General:
Perennial, tufted herb from fibrous roots; stems triangular, 20-70 cm tall, exceeding the leaves.

Leaves:
Sheaths tight; blades flat, 1.5-3 mm wide, borne on the lower 1/3 of the stem.

Flowers:
Spikes 3 to 7, aggregated into a loose, cylindrical to elliptical head, 1-5 cm long, unstalked, with both female and male flowers, the female ones towards the tips; bracts subtending the spikes sheathless, reduced, inconspicuous, the lowermost sometimes awnlike.

Fruits:
Perigynia narrowly egg-shaped, 4.5-6.5 mm long, 1.7-2.5 mm wide, straw-coloured to dark brown, the margins winged nearly to the bases, the upper 1/2 fringed with teeth, lightly several-nerved on the backs, with faint nerves or nerveless below, the beaks shallowly bidentate, up to 1 mm long, narrowly margined and toothed below; female scales elliptical, pointed, yellowish-brown, with broad translucent margins and lighter centres, longer and wider than the perigynia; stigmas 2; achenes lens-shaped, 1.5-2 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Carex praticola var. subcoriacea F.J. Herm.